Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited Israel to talk about Gaza and the Palestinians, but heard a stern message about nuclear talks with Tehran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel took a moment on Tuesday to thank the Biden administration for its support during his country’s 11-day conflict with Hamas in Gaza — and then abruptly changed the subject, and his tone. “We discussed many regional issues, but none is greater than Iran,” Mr. Netanyahu said, standing with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken after their meeting in Jerusalem. He pointedly added that he hoped the United States would not rejoin the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, “because we believe that deal paves the way for Iran to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons with international legitimacy.” The Israeli leader’s remarks lent a sour note to his welcome of Mr. Blinken. And it undoubtedly echoed a few thousand miles away in Vienna, where a fifth round of negotiations aimed at bringing the United States and Iran back into compliance with the nuclear agreement, a top priority of Mr. Biden’s, opened on Tuesday. As Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks made clear, the Gaza conflict appears to have earned Mr. Biden good will with the Israeli leader, and his public. But the prospect of a U.S. return to the nuclear deal threatens to generate new strains between Washington and Jerusalem on a subject that poisoned relations between President Barack Obama and Mr. Netanyahu. “The big drama looms, and that is the Iran nuclear deal,” said Jonathan Schanzer, a Middle East expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “I think both Biden and Netanyahu realize that whatever discomfort both sides may have felt throughout this current conflict, it is small fries compared to the political friction that is looming,” Mr. Schanzer added. Compounding the trouble is the conflict in Gaza, which has created anger in Israel and among Republicans in Congress over Iran’s ties to Palestinian militants. Most analysts say Iran played no active role in this month’s rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, even though Tehran openly cheered them on. But Tehran has for years provided the Gaza-based militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad with financial and military backing — and, after longtime smuggling tunnels were sealed, taught those groups how to build their own munitions. Citing that relationship,44 Senate Republicans signed a letter to Mr. Biden this month insisting that he cut off his negotiations with Iran, which they called “a longtime financial and material supporter of Hamas.
